


Cinders

by JaneApricity



Category: Firewatch (Video Game)
Genre: Father-Daughter Relationship, Firewatch, I love Joel and Ellie, Murder, Mystery, Other, fire watchers, fire watching, forest fire, forrest byrnes - Freeform, shoshone national park, think Joel and Ellie, watch tower
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-19
Updated: 2017-01-19
Packaged: 2018-09-18 15:24:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9390881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JaneApricity/pseuds/JaneApricity
Summary: Thirteen years later, Henry still comes to Shoshone National Park as a firewatcher every summer. His first year seems like a lifetime ago, but the memories have a way of coming back.This year, they come back in the form of a girl named Emily. Not eager to repeat the incident with the Goodwin's, Henry tries to get Emily to go home. But the forest isn't done with it's mysteries.





	

 

     Henry's hiking boots thunked loudly up the steps of Two Forks Lookout. The watch tower still had a crappy coat of paint and the feel of being old enough to collapse under each step as it always had. He had made the mistake of running his hands up the railing his first year. After he'd pulled out the resulting splinters, he swore to never do so again. 

     He peered through the grimy windows. They were covered in dirt and ash from summers long before; Henry needed to clean them off again if he was going to see anything in or out of the tower.

     Not that there was much to see inside. Henry pulled open the door to find it as stark as always. There were still a couple posters up on the wall and some books scattered across the ground, but that was it. Even Turt Reynolds had been set free several years back. Henry sort of doubted the little tortoise was still around. 

     Henry slid the backpack off his shoulders and dropped it in a chair beside him. He felt winded after going up those stairs. He'd been at this too long. 

     It was 2002. Which made him fifty-five years old. He didn't keep a mirror in the watch tower, but he knew he looked like an old grizzly bear. His beard had gone silver in spots, and he had "eye crinkles" as Julia had last put it. 

     At the thought of Julia, Henry opened up his pack and pulled out a photo of them. He brought it each summer. He set it on the desk, then began setting out the rest of his things. 

     Dishes were already there, so Henry put a bit of food beside it. His books were scattered about, so he rearranged them on the desk and set his typewriter beside those. A typewriter was still a good friend in these days. A computer would just require more electricity. And out here, it might as well still be 1989. Not a thing had changed since his first year at Shoshone National Park. 

     Henry looked out a window towards Thorofare Mountain. 

     Well. Some things had changed. 

     Henry wrapped up his packing and sat on his bed to do a crossword puzzle. Everything was still and silent, just as it had been for over a decade. 

     Then a radio crackled to life. 

     Henry took it absently. "Unclear. Please repeat." He released the button. 

     "Hello?" The voice was tentative, shrouded in static.

     Henry frowned; it hadn't come from the walkie talkie in his hand. 

     "Hello?" the voice repeated. "Is someone on the other end of this thing?" 

     Impossible. 

     Henry opened a desk drawer. Inside was a different radio. This one wasn't yellow, however. It was the radio that Delilah had given him their first year. 

     How in hell did it have the batteries to keep going? 

     Henry snatched it up and pressed the button. "Hello? D?" 

     "Woah, it works!" No, that wasn't Delilah. She would be as old as Henry now, and this voice was, if anything, younger than when they'd met. 

     "Who are you? How did you find this radio?" Henry asked. 

     "I'm Emily," said the voice. "Uh... which one are you? Which watch tower, I mean? I'm Thorofare." 

     "I'm Two Forks," said Henry impatiently. "Where did you get that radio?"

     "It was just out here with a bunch of crap we brought. Who're you?" 

     "I'm Henry," he said. How did this Emily get a hold of Delilah's radio? Unless it wasn't actually hers, but just tuned to the same frequency. 

     "Aw, crap. I gotta run, Henry. But nice meeting you! My mom said there wouldn't be anyone to talk to." 

     "Well, we don't talk much," Henry said. But he wasn't sure that she even heard him. 

     


End file.
